The story of team CERO
by Zidzan
Summary: The story of the boy in grey and a world of danger.
1. Chapter 1

Team C.E.R.O

Part 1

Slowly the magnificent airship came to a stop. The flight to Beacon Academy had been rather short although the view from the soaring metal had been nothing to scoff at. The doors opened and the students stepped out to greet the new stage of their lives. One such student left the ship with more surprise and hope in his eyes then his peers.

He was a young man like any other, although from a distance anyone would have difficulty discerning much about him. Well It was true he was tall and quite thin it was apparent he had taken the time to cover up. He was engulfed from head to toe in baggy clothing, all of it varying colors of grey. He wore shoes, simple laced things that tapped against the stone of the pathway with each step he took. His pants were made of common cloth yet hung limply off his waist. His shirt was mostly covered by a light hooded sweatshirt that extended past his pockets and whose sleeves cut off halfway down his forearm. The only truly exposed part of his shirt did the best to cover the rest of him, sleeves traveling down to his knuckles and the collar, zippered closed, covered everything underneath his nose. Sticking up from behind the cloth of his collar were two small rectangle tattoos ending in circular bulbs just below his eyes. Their color matched that of a smoke cloud with the pigments seeming to move as such. His skin was pale, as if he hadn't seen the sun in years. His grey eyes darted around, never focused on one object or person for too long. His short brown hair peeked out from his hood, yet was strangely stiff as he walked.

With hood up he wandered down the pathway. His movement was sporadic, spinning his body and swiveling his head doing his best to absorb his surroundings. He acted as if it could be ripped out from under him at any moment, as if each step was a gift. He stopped and turned around at the sound of the great metal beast's gears grinding to a start. Frozen in place he watched the great ship fly off. With a sigh of relief he turned to face the school.

"I guess I'm really here." He said to himself.

As the young man walked into the auditorium his eyes exploded tenfold. Never before had he seen so many people in one room. Quickly he scanned the area. People stood everywhere in small groups, talking amongst themselves. On the stage stood a blond woman, intently focused on the scroll in her hands, seemingly oblivious to the mass of bodies before her. The young man spotted an empty corner, completely devoid of not just people, but their gazes as well. With an adjustment of his hood he made his way through the crowd, head down, doing his best to avoid being noticed. Not a minute had passed since he had set himself in the corner before a tall man with grey hair joined the woman on stage. The man on the stage tapped the microphone in front of him quickly. The crowd became silent almost instantly, so silent in fact that the boy in grey was suddenly aware of his own breathing.

"Welcome to Beacon. I am professor Ozpin." The man said calmly. "You are here because this world is far from the peaceful place your parents would have you believe. You all know, just as well as I do, that the creatures of Grimm are always apparent, always a threat." The man paused as he looked around the room, stopping as his gaze met the boy in grey. Their eyes locked for what seemed to the boy to be ages. Suddenly, as if the man was proud of what he saw, he looked back to the crowd as a whole. "You are here not because the world is peaceful, but because you plan to be creators of the lie your parents told with such fervor. Among you I sense the greatness of our future sculptors, and the hope of your generation." With his final words Ozpin turned and slowly walked off stage. The blond woman who had been standing by quickly filled the void left in his stead at the microphone and spoke with a laser focus. "The locker-room is down that hallway. You will store your gear in the locker that has been assigned to you. You will find your extra clothing and sleeping bag within. You will all gather in the ballroom. Your initiation begins tomorrow. Prepare yourself." With her final words she turned, following the path Ozpin had taken off the stage. The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper as he made his way to the hall.

...

Walking back from the bathroom to his sleeping bag in the corner of the ballroom he surveyed the area. Everyone was in some form of pajamas, including him. However he had been the only one to leave on something from the day. He still wore his shirt, sweatshirt and socks doing his best to keep his body covered. As he slipped into his bag for the night he looked around the room one final time. Content with the state of the others he reached up to the zipper on his shirt, grasped it, then froze. As he had been scanning the room he had come upon a girl in the far corner. She looked beautiful to him. Her face was angular, thin yet strong. Her lips were thin, a natural vibrant red. Her hair was a light red, cut to her shoulders. She was a Faunus from the looks of things, with two light red, angular ears. It was not the ears that caught the boy's attention however. What pulled him in were her eyes. The eyes, a piercing blue, were intently focused on him.

He looked away for a moment, then snapped his head back. She was still there, still focused, unblinking. The boy slipped down under his covers. He removed his extras until he was just in his pajama bottoms, then turned on his right and deposited them in a pile nearby to his bag. Well he would of moved them further he dared not leave his bag with that woman's gaze on him. Feeling uncomfortable with his right side he shifted to his left, and directly into the gaze of the woman. His body froze. She had somehow managed to traverse the whole ballroom and lay down beside the boy, silently, within moments.

"Hello." She said.

The boy said nothing as he sat there, sleeping bag cover taking the place his shirt collar had been, intensely hoping the woman would leave. "What is your name?" She asked. Her voice was gentle, no doubt due to the silence she was forcing as to not wake anyone in the room. The boy said nothing, did nothing, nothing but stare into her eyes. "I've been watching you." she said. "You didn't put anything in your locker." The boy rolled onto his back and looked at the ceiling, hoping for the impossible. The girl moved, but not in the way he had hoped. She flowed up and over him coming to a stop straddling his waist. "What are these?" She asked, gesturing to the lines under the boy's eyes. He blinked once. Slowly she moved her head down, past his face. He could hear her breathing in his ear. "I will find out." She whispered. Her voice was less gentle now, carrying the weight of a hunt. She slinked off of him and back to her corner. Her steps were silent, her hips swaying as she walked. As she reached her bag she turned her head. Their gaze met once more before she laid down for the night. The boy in grey slept lightly.


	2. Chapter 2: Rifles and Resonance

Team C.E.R.O

Part 2: Rifles and Resonance

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BE-

The boy slapped his hand down on the small alarm clock. He had been wide awake an hour beforehand and was in turn completely prepared for the stabbing monstrosity that dared be called noise. He slowly looked up from his sleeping bag, careful to cover his face, and gazed in the direction of the faunus that had so readily molested his personal space earlier. She stirred, clearly still enjoying whatever dreams she had become entangled in. He looked around the room and was amazed to see that not just the girl, but the whole room still remained silent. Grinning at his fortune and taking the time to bless his alarm slaying abilities the boy stood to stretch.

The boy's face was gaunt, yet showed no signs of malnourishment. His body was slim, yet his muscles showed definition. As it had turned out however, the small bulbs under his eyes only hinted at what lay beneath his usual attire.

The two small tattoos beneath his eyes traveled down his face and neck, taking hard right angles towards each other to collide at the center of his chest in a large circle. The tattoo continued, jutting down from the circle to just above his belly button before splitting off, once again at right angles, to meet up at the center of his back. There they met in a large vertical line that traveled the whole length of his spine. Jutting away from this line in a formation that zigzagged its way over his body, yet somehow managing to keep a precarious symmetry, were other tattoos. Red, yellow, and an icy blue traveled from their separate spots near the top of his spinal line down his arms meeting in a small circle in the middle of his palm, the color of which seemed to slowly flow between the three that created it. A line of purple managed to fit its way from the middle of his back to his biceps, ending in a large disk. Finally, a thin line of white could be spotted jutting downwards, disappearing beneath his pajamas and resurfacing on his feet, rounding their way underneath his heels.

The boy finished his stretch and grabbed his clothing, determined to end his morning routine before anyone else had a chance to rise.

...

The boy wandered down the path to the cliffs. He had managed to get dressed before anyone else and even to sneak some food into his mouth at breakfast. But even with all the small successes he could feel it. Since the moment she had risen she had locked on to him. Her eyes never stopped their focus, the drilling of her gaze always felt. He had glanced at her, once. It was a mistake he didn't make again. Her look carried with it an anger that was no doubt due to the boy's plannedearly rise. It lookedas if she was planning his murder simply for denying her the ability to satiate her curiosity. Even now, as he walked among a mass of students he felt her stare.

The group of students reached the cliff to the sight of the professor and his blond assistant set against a backdrop of a lush valley filled with the canopy of a dense forest. Before them lay an array of springboards, each adorned with the schools crest. The professor spoke.

"Each of you will take a place on one of these before we begin." He gestured to the springboards and the young boy made a calculation. After the moment's thought the boy in grey took his place on the board furthest from the professor. The faunus girl, ever subtle, maneuvered her way onto the board beside him.

"Within this forest are the creatures of Grimm, but also your pass to become a full member of this school. You will all be launched into these woods with the goal of traveling to the ruins deep inside, grabbing one of the passes and making it back in one piece. Now well I can easily expect any one of you to go in and do this on your own, there is truth to the words strength in numbers. With that in mind the first person you make eye contact with after landing on the forest floor will be your partner for the remainder of your time at Beacon. Any questions?"

With his final words Ozpin looked down the line stopping on the boy in grey. Once again they stared at one another, the boy unable to discern why, the professor shrouding his expressions perfectly this time.

"No? Excellent."

The boy felt it, and his heart sank. His calculation had been off. The platform he had chosen was not to be the last, but the first. With an audible snap the spring released its tension and he was flung into the sky. The boy was prepared, executing a slow flip to compensate for the angle at which his body had been flung. As he reached the crest of his flight his feet came beneath him and he focused, channeling his aura. From his feet burst pure air energy, suspending his eventual drop from the crest of his sudden flight. The faunus flew by, her face seemingly a mix of anger and awe. The boy slowly let the energy weaken to allow him to calmly float to the ground. If there were truly Grimm in these woods then he would need all his energy for the possible combat ahead as opposed to a short flight.

...

The boy walked slowly, taking care to keep each step quiet and calculated. It had been ten minutes so far and he hadn't seen or heard a single Grimm or student. He pushed the leaves of a bush out of his way, his eyes taking in the whole clearing ahead of him. It was a wide open grassy area, with sunlight dancing off each viridian blade. Seeing such beauty gave him a sense of calm, as if the forest wasn't truly the death trap Professor Ozpin had said it was. Slowly he stepped into the clearing. He walked among the grass, feeling the suns warmth. It was almost enough to pull him away from a sudden creeping, chilling feeling. He knew it well, as it had been ripping into him all morning. Something was watching him.

That's when he heard it. The crack of a rifle. It was far off, but he turned to face it on instinct. No sooner had his spin completed before the bullet fired zipped past him. It collided with the ground of the clearing behind him and exploded violently. The heat was unmistakable, betraying it as a fire dust round. He looked back to the trail the bullet had taken and heard another crack. He turned his side to the inevitably approaching bullet and raised his arm as if protecting from a punch. Before him appeared a large purple disk covered in runes. The shot collided with this shield of energy and exploded in a burst of fire. The boy lowered his arm and stopped the flow of aura powering his tattoo, causing his shield to evaporate into the air.

He stood in the now charred clearing for a solid five minutes doing nothing but listening. Finally he heard his assumed attacker as the leaves of the surrounding trees began to rustle. Acting on pure instinct he raised his hands to the moving tree and attacked, channeling the energy of his aura through his tattoos and out of his palms in a burst of lightning. Something fell from the tree into a bush below, avoiding the assault. He quickly prepared a second strike, but was stopped by the sound of a girls voice.

"Wait!"

He recognized the voice instantly as his heart managed to sink yet again that day. The girl sprung out from the bush, grinning like a fox. Before him stood the faunus from the night before, armed by a bulky halberd with a firing mechanism.

Her clothing was fairly simple, and all some variation of green. Her shirt, long-sleeved and tight to her body, was almost completely covered by a large bandolier that sported a large assortment of pockets and rounds. Her pants were slim and hugged her legs, disappearing behind two worn boots that rose to her knees. On her back she wore a large hooded cloak that brushed against the charred ground beneath her. Sown into the cloak was an assortment of leaves, all fresh and seemingly taken from the surrounding trees.

"That. Was. AMAZING!" She yelled, rushing to the boy's side. "I mean it was one of my guesses, but someone with a semblance of Dust Manipulation at your age would carry a weapon and you didn't then there was that shield then-"

The boy raised his hand causing her to abruptly stop.

"You shot at me?" He questioned, his voice dripping with anger.

The girl crossed her arms and looked away. "Oh come off it, they were impact rounds. At best they would of blown your aura off and knocked you on your ass."

The boy let go of a deep sigh, not sure whether to forgive the stalking and extremely destructive faunus or blow her away were she stood. He didn't have to think long, as she answered his mental question with her next words.

"So, seeing as no one else is here it looks like I was the first to lock eyes with you. So that means..." Her voice drifted as she looked at him.

"No."

"No?! You can't deny me! That's against the rules!" She stepped in close, shoving her face into his as she continued to yell. "Besides, this could of all been avoided if you had decided to speak to me last night!"

"Normal people don't just decide to shoot others because they won't talk!" He yelled in retort. She leaned back with a look of surprise, clearly not expecting any form of rebuttal from the boy who had been silent for the majority of their interactions. He rounded and began to walk away.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"To finish this entrance exam, where else?" He spun again and walked off, his steps heavy, betraying his anger.

The girl rushed to him and gripped his arm. "Wait, please."

The boy ripped his arm out of her grasp as he whipped his head around, eyes burning with anger.

"Listen." she spoke looking at the ground, "I understand that maybe I took it a bit overboard."

"A bit?"

"Ok. A lot overboard. But this forest is filled with Grimm and our lives are really at risk here." She raised her head, her eyes meeting his. "So if it's just for this time..."

The boy looked back to the woods before letting out a large sigh. Looking back to her he spoke with a calm voice, as if he had accidentally struck a friend.

"Caliban."

"What?"

"My name. It's Caliban."

The girl hopped with joy, her smile somehow brightening the charred clearing. She grabbed and shook his hand vigorously."You can call me Edana!"

Caliban smiled beneath his collar, feeling infected by her sudden joy. He turned to leave the clearing but before he could take a step he looked back.

"And by the way, Edana..."

"Yes?"

"It's Dust Resonance, not Manipulation."


End file.
